Impact Assessment Analysis of Sea Level Rise in Denmark: A Case Study of Falster Island, Guldborgsund

Alexander Boest-Petersen,Piotr Michalak,Jamal Jokar Arsanjani

doi:10.3390/su13137503

Abstract

Anthropogenically-induced climate change is expected to be the contributing cause of sea level rise and severe storm events in the immediate future. While Danish authorities have downscaled the future oscillation of sea level rise across Danish coast lines in order to empower the coastal municipalities, there is a need to project the local cascading effects on different sectors. Using geospatial analysis and climate change projection data, we developed a proposed workflow to analyze the impacts of sea level rise in the coastal municipalities of Guldborgsund, located in Southeastern Denmark as a case study. With current estimates of sea level rise and storm surge events, the island of Falster can expect to have up to 19% of its landmass inundated, with approximately 39% of the population experiencing sea level rise directly. Developing an analytical workflow can allow stakeholders to understand the extent of expected sea level rise and consider alternative methods of prevention at the national and local levels. The proposed approach along with the choice of data and open source tools can empower other communities at risk of sea level rise to plan their adaptation.

Highlights

Sustainability 2021, 13, 7503. https://Studies have shown that sea level rise (SLR) serves as one of the most extreme climate change impacts, allowing rising waters to threaten global coastlines and coastal societies.The need for taking actions against SLR is even more urgent in low-lying regions such as Denmark with over 7000 km of coastline, straddling the North and Baltic Sea
With spatial planning being decentralized in Denmark and local municipalities developing regional plans based on their individual needs in accordance to the planning act [29], national level considerations should be employed to ensure a comprehensive approach to mitigating future SLR
Land management helps to address many of the challenges that are present when working with climate change adaptation planning

Summary

Introduction

Sustainability 2021, 13, 7503. https://Studies have shown that sea level rise (SLR) serves as one of the most extreme climate change impacts, allowing rising waters to threaten global coastlines and coastal societies.The need for taking actions against SLR is even more urgent in low-lying regions such as Denmark with over 7000 km of coastline, straddling the North and Baltic Sea. Studies have shown that sea level rise (SLR) serves as one of the most extreme climate change impacts, allowing rising waters to threaten global coastlines and coastal societies. The need for taking actions against SLR is even more urgent in low-lying regions such as Denmark with over 7000 km of coastline, straddling the North and Baltic Sea. There are numerous factors that can threaten such a foundation and lead to SLR and flooding, such as climate change and human activities. Greenhouse gas emissions have been rising for over a century, with Carbon. Dioxide (CO2 ) emissions escalating significantly since the 1950s. New weather and climate phenomena have become observable in the form of more aggressive heat waves, droughts, floods, rising sea levels and destabilizing ecosystems [1]

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